BSS
  10 Feb 2025, 17:23
Update : 10 Feb 2025, 17:24

Ukraine's Zelensky to attend Munich security meet: organisers

    
BERLIN, Feb 10, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky is 
expected at the Munich Security Conference, where the war with Russia and how 
to end it will be high on the agenda, organisers said Monday.

Senior representatives from US President Donald Trump's new administration 
will also be at the gathering in the southern German city from Friday to 
Sunday.

The US delegation would include Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State 
Marco Rubio and presidential envoy on the Ukraine-Russia war Keith Kellogg, 
MSC chair Christoph Heusgen told a Berlin press conference.

Zelensky is expected to attend in person, allowing for potential talks with 
representatives of Kyiv's key allies, Heugsen said.

"We hope that Munich will be used -- and we have signs that it will -- to 
make progress with regard to peace in Ukraine," the former diplomat said.

"We assume that talks will take place on the sidelines. I will leave it open 
whether a plan will be announced at the conference.

"What I am certain of is that the conference will be used to see the contours 
of such a plan."

Heusgen added that "I hope we will make progress in Munich... the fact that 
the person responsible for this, Kellogg, will attend is an indication of 
this for me."

The high-level security meet in Munich comes shortly before the three-year 
anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The conference could be one of the first opportunities for senior US 
officials to speak directly with representatives from Ukraine since Trump 
returned to the White House last month.

During his campaign, Trump promised a quick end to the war but provided few 
details on how he hoped to achieve that goal.

Vance was expected to give a speech on Friday in Munich, Heusgen said, adding 
that no official representatives of the Russian government would be there.

"No one has expressed a desire for official Russians... to come," he said. By 
contrast, organisers had "invited Russians from non-governmental 
organisations, from the opposition, both from Russia and from exile".